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This invention relates principally to the use of butter oil (anhydrous milk fat) as an appropriate carrier of carotenal solution for use as a colorant in food products.
As is known in the trade, natural carotenal is a somewhat seasonally available product, and this is significant in the availability of such compound when used in continuous overall production of food products. For example, the application of carotenal in the processing of American cheese is a primary example.
Hence, investigation has determined that when synthetic carotenal is well mixed with the natural beta carotene in a butter oil, and stored for thirty (30) days, the Excel colorant is a far more efficient colorant than the colorant derived from synthetic carotenal as made by the various chemical companies.
It is known that the units of vitamin A color derived from natural beta carotene in a pound of butter oil is approximately I.U. 17,025. The units of vitamin A color in synthetic carotenal is made available by Roche Vitamins, Inc., of Parsippany, N.J. 07054, in Solution No. 73, and is 30% beta carotene and 70% eta-a.p.o.-8xe2x80x2 carotenal. This combination has an I.U. measurement of 12,167,200 of the total carotenal. Or, the beta carotene of the compound is I.U. 3.650,160, and the beta beta-a.p.o.-8xe2x80x2 carotenal measures I.U. 8,517,040. If utilizing a cost analysis of the usage of the available compound, the use of said compound calculates at a cost of $1.386 per pound of butter oil, which computes to a cost of $0.00081409 per I.U. The cost of the Solution No. 73 available from Roche is $25.75 per kilogram, so in converting that cost per I.U., you calculate a cost of $0.00000095996 per I.U. While thes costs per I.U. seem infinitesimal, one must recognize that, on the average, it takes 0.4 grams, or I.U. 10,720, of colorant per pound of processed cheese to develop the usually preferred color for the processed cheese. Hence, if you use thirty pounds of the invention, referred to as Excelcolor, with an I.U. 357,333 per pound, you have a I.U. 10,719,999, or the proper I.U. of carotenal for 1,000 pounds of processed American cheese. This would cost approximately $130.67 for Excelcolor.
If one utilizes the Roche Solution No.73, the cost is $137.21, for 1,000 pounds of processed American cheese. Thus, there is a savings of $6.54 per 1,00 pounds of cheese. While this may seem insignificant, one must recognize that there are at least two companies currently in the United States that process and make over one million pounds of processed cheese per day. Hence, the usage of Excelcolor in the manner as described, would represent a savings of $6,540.00 per day, or over $2,000,000 per year, to the processor.